Quick answer: Korea's workation visa stopped being an experiment on 30 June 2026. The Korea Immigration Service now runs the digital nomad route permanently after a two-year pilot, the maximum stay has gone from two years to three, and the income floor slides between one and two times Korea's per capita GNI according to the applicant's age and the region they settle in — applicants aged 18 to 34 moving outside the greater Seoul area qualify at the lower end. On the reported basis of a 52.41 million won per capita GNI, the top of that range is about 100 million won. The holder works remotely for a company registered outside Korea and cannot take a Korean employer. None of that is a product an agent sells, and that is the point: the visa is between the traveller and immigration, while the stay itself — three months of accommodation, a working internet connection, a phone number, a bank of neighbourhoods that suit a weekday rather than a weekend — is ground handling, and it is a market that did not exist at this length before.
What the 30 June 2026 change actually did
- It made the route permanent. The digital nomad or workation visa had run as a pilot since the start of 2024; the Korea Immigration Service has operated it on a permanent basis since 30 June 2026.
- It raised the maximum stay from two years to three. That is the change that turns a long holiday into a relocation, with everything a relocation needs.
- It replaced a flat income bar with a sliding one. The floor now runs between one and two times Korea's per capita GNI, set by the applicant's age and by the region they move to.
- Younger applicants outside greater Seoul sit at the bottom of that range. Reporting puts applicants aged 18 to 34 relocating outside the capital region at one times GNI.
- The numbers have a basis and a date. The figures were reported against a per capita GNI of 52.41 million won, which puts the two-times end at roughly 100 million won. Quote the basis, not the round number, because the basis is what gets revised.
- The work has to be foreign. The holder works remotely for a company registered outside Korea, or runs a business registered outside Korea, and cannot work for a Korean employer.
Where the trade actually fits
Nobody in the travel chain advises on eligibility
Whether a given person qualifies is a matter between them and Korea Immigration. An agent or a DMC telling a client they will be approved is advising on something neither is licensed to advise on, and the client is the one who pays for a wrong answer. Point at the official channel, say what you have read and when you read it, and stop there.
The stay is the product
Three months to three years of accommodation, connectivity, transport and local orientation is a real programme with real margin, and it is not a hotel booking. It is closer to a relocation file with a travel company's service level attached.
Corporate workations are a separate, nearer market
A company sending a team to Korea for two weeks of remote work plus an offsite does not need this visa at all in most cases, and does need meeting space, reliable connectivity, a room block that tolerates a working day and a programme for the evenings. That is ordinary MICE work with a different shape.
What a long stay needs that a holiday does not
- Accommodation that works on a Tuesday. A desk at the right height, a chair with a back, a lamp, and enough floor space to stand up in. Serviced apartments and residence hotels do this; a standard twin does not.
- Connectivity that is contracted rather than assumed. A video call at eight in the morning is a business requirement. Confirm the actual connection in the actual room, not the hotel's marketing line.
- A working phone number and payment method. Deliveries, reservations, hospital reception desks and building entry systems in Korea all assume a local number.
- Laundry, groceries and a pharmacy within walking distance. Over three months these decide whether the neighbourhood works better than any view does.
- A neighbourhood chosen for weekdays. Nightlife districts are the wrong answer for someone who has calls at seven in the morning.
- Transport that is a transit card and a walk, not a daily private transfer. Long-stay clients want independence, and the cost structure is different.
- Somebody to call. Over a long stay something will go wrong — a landlord, a hospital, a lost card. A 24/7 desk in Korean is the difference between an inconvenience and a crisis.
How to quote it without getting caught out
- Quote the stay, not the visa. Your contract covers accommodation, ground and support. It does not cover an immigration outcome, and it should say so.
- Write the cancellation terms for a visa refusal before anyone pays anything. This is the single most likely way a long-stay file collapses.
- Get the accommodation terms in months, not nights. Long-stay rates, deposits, utilities, cleaning frequency and what happens if the client extends are all separate questions.
- Confirm who the contract is with. A residence let for three months may be a different legal arrangement from a hotel booking, with different consumer protection.
- Agree the review point. A three-month stay should have a check-in at week two, when a wrong neighbourhood is still fixable.
- Do not translate the income figures into your client's currency and present them as thresholds. They are set against a Korean basis that is revised; a converted number goes stale invisibly.
- Keep a record of when you checked. Immigration policy on this route has changed twice in two and a half years.
Long stays and corporate workations, handled on the ground
Explera DMC Korea is a destination management company. We do not file visas, we do not assess eligibility and we give no immigration advice — that sits with the applicant and Korea Immigration, and we will say so to your client in writing if it helps. What we do is the stay: serviced apartments and residence hotels chosen for a working week rather than a brochure; the connection in the room confirmed before arrival; a local number and payment method arranged on day one; a neighbourhood briefing built around weekdays, groceries and a pharmacy; transit rather than daily transfers where that is what the client actually wants; meeting space and an evening programme when a company sends a team; and a 24/7 operations desk on Korea ground time for the whole length of the stay.
Send the length, the city and the profile — one person, a family or a team — to b2b@explera.kr or WhatsApp +66 93 656 8090. Explera DMC Korea is IATA TIDS-registered (96215733) and an ASTA member (#900408341); our KTO and KATA registrations are in application.
Where this fits in our Korea programmes
The pages below carry the operational detail behind this briefing.
- Services: Group travel & GIT in Korea · Rail & transfers in Korea · 24/7 emergency support in Korea
- Destinations: Seoul · Busan · Jeju
